Mud, Monkey Feet and Jet Engines

This morning I was again run leader for the 8.00am HEROS run and the usual brief was about 6 miles and to finish around 9.15am. Last evening I was seen pouring over maps to try out and get the distance and found the job pretty hard as the only way to get a guaranteed 6 miles is to do an out and back which is pretty boring for group runs so chose a "lollipop" run which is an out and back with a big loop at one end. These are quite nice runs as people who wish to have a race towards the end know the route back.

The weather overnight was heavy rain which blends in well with the people who like cross country and I was totally knocked off my feet when I drove into the car park and got out to find twelve other runners ready for the run with smiles and laughter.

I had decided the night before to take everyone on a route that they are not taken on usually and to get us on the other side of Biggin Hill airport to get into the Biggin Hill Valley via fields of horses munching happily on the wet grass oblivious to our laughter and chat. Joining a path that allowed us to run next to the airport we trudged up the long but shallow gradient through unripened corn which was at knee height, my Monkey Feet slipping slightly underfoot, it was here that the conversation dropped as the hill took its toll but was soon back to normal when we jumped into the valley. The wind was up as it blustered past us, the long grass flicking up and down like waves.

One of the more bizarre things that happened when I was busting for a wee and so asked Peter and Brian to take over until they reached Nash, a small village up ahead and then jumped to the side but had forgotten that the others hadn't heard and so all stopped and grouped around me probably expecting so beautiful view, after I had told them what I was up to the hooted with laughter and ran off!

No run in the country comes without its challenges when we came across some workmen re-seating a telegraph pole such that their two flatbeds completely blocked the road and so without any grumbles or moans we all clambered under the tail end of the flatbeds to continue on....these things happen on trail runs.

And so we returned on the trail past the airport just as private jet was readying itself for take off and as the wind blew it carried the stench of its fuel around us and then roared off into the low cloud as we slipped and skated along the path we had run before, my Monkey Feet had no real problems but the shoe wearers were saying they must have had their own weight in mud on each foot.

The run finished soon after but could have happily taken a few more miles and really pleased with my returning fitness.  

London Youth Games 2015

One motto I hope my children will take with them is "Take every opportunity that comes to you as you will regret it if you didn't."

Today was one such opportunity when I received an email from the Delightful Mrs S who is a dyed in the wool technophobe, in the email it read:

"Next Thursday on 4 June, the London Youth Games are hosting the Para Games Swimming Competition at the Beckenham Spa in Bromley. With over 170 para athletes due to attend it should be a great day.  However, the London Youth Games organisers still need volunteers for key roles including timekeepers, marshals, medal coordinators and people to record results."

I jumped at the chance and wrote an email to London Youth Games outlining telling them of my experience at London 2012 as a Games Maker working in Anti-Doping in both the Olympic and Paralympics, I think I may have over-egged the cake but I really wanted to show them that I had some experience both in volunteering in a large sporting event but also had quite a responsible role. This is part of what I wrote which was pretty good I think for the time I took to complete it:

"...I was a Games Maker in the London 2012 Olympics and worked as a Doping Chaperone responsible for selecting and taking athletes from the field of play to the Doping Centre. I worked at the North Greenwich Arena (O2) during the Gymnastics, WheelChair Basketball and moved to assist in Goalball at the Copper Box Arena for the day so have good experience with para-athletes.


I also run for Petts Wood Runners and an ultramarathon runner covering distances from 50 miles to 100 miles, I am an experienced race organiser and have worked from Race Sweeper, Marshall and have done some timekeeping..."

Every 10 minutes that day I checked my email and was excited to receive an email at 4.55pm saying that they were offering a job for the day and I was really blown away when I discovered that wanted me to be a Timekeeper with an early start that included training and breakfast. The young people who are taking part are from all over London Races will have a mix of impairments (functional; visual; and hearing/ learning) and are aged between 6 and 19 years. 

My work have been really great as they have agreed that I can take the time as "Volunteer Leave" which each member of staff has a quota of 21 hours a year and as some of the competitors are from Lambeth (the area I work in) these hours valid. 

Onwards and Upwards

BOOM - I am out of the door.

I have spent too much time wallowing in my inner self and I have decided that I need to get going and set myself a few challenges. Looking around I remembered that there was a race that popped up on my running RADAR last year called the Saffron Trail Ultra organised by a great team called Challenge Running led by Lindley Chambers who is a seasoned ultrarunner and from past experience puts on a great race.

Breaking the news to the Delightful Mrs S was the biggest hurdle as she makes no secret for her desire for me to stop these adventures but this race has everything that I look for in a race as it is one of the more unusual ones that it starts at 6.00pm. So my calculations tell me that the sun sets at 8.47pm on 18/7/2015 and the sun rises at 05.00am on 19/7/2015 such as the majority of the beginning miles are in the dark when the temperatures are cool. 

So after I told Mrs S of my intentions (Jeez, she has a sharp tongue) I mentally limped away to get my wallet and entered with the result email thus:

Hello Jeremy Smallwood

This is to confirm that you have signed-up for Saffron Trail Ultra. The organiser has added information that you need to know about the event, to the bottom of this email receipt. A copy of this email has been sent to the organiser.

Wow and so we have it,a new challenge. More to follow over the coming weeks.

A monkey by any other name would smell as sweet

My Dear Readers, you may have read in my blog about HEROS, a group with no leader, no secretary, no run length limit (apart from what can be done in 2 hours max.). This concept has run for over 25 years and there has been a run from the same car park at 9.00am every Sunday come hail or sunshine running at the speed of the slowest person.

I first became aware of this group about 7 years ago when running with my then trail running partner, George, when we bumped into them on the North Downs Way. The group was full of people I had met before from club runs and races, this was a group with no affiliation....perfect.

Let's jump forward those 7 years and like time, the group has morphed with the chance of a new option of 8.00am which has been amusingly called Anti-Heros, not because it is in competition with the 9.00am group but it allows more options to runners who may have something on that day and want to go out earlier. Every week the group leader of choice is asked who their favourite anti-hero is and it forms the poster for the coming run, mine was Clint Eastwood's brilliant character "The Man with No Name"

The Planning

It is mad to think that I have trodden the paths leading off from our meeting point at the "Third car park on the left" on numerous occasions but now I have been asked to devise a run of about 6 miles at 10 to 10:30 min/mile pace   or 75 minutes for faster runners. This got me pouring over maps of the area and trying to find routes that took us to what I considered to be "interesting" but as I am a bit of a nerdy geek what I find interesting may not always sit well with other, more normal people.

The Run

The route was set and after picking Liz up from her house we drove to the "Third car park on the left" where I was pleased to meet four other runners and went off at 8.05am onto the trails. I was nervous that some of them would know the route, especially , Brian, who was my inspiration to run from London to Brighton but he would know the trails, like me, as he taught me a lot of them but the joy is that they can be put together in so many combinations that it is not always the route but the company you have.

Everyone was chatting, I made the pace gentle and enjoyed the company until , unbeknownst, to the others I took a turn too early and found I had cut off a section of woods so after a quick parlez with Brian we cut off towards the woods I wanted to go through and on entering it my jaw dropped, as did my fellow runners by their whoops of joy and admiration. The woods were awash with Bluebells and when I say awash, it was a beautiful like a carpet of blue sprinkled around the freshly leafed trees.

The run continued and I decided to make up the loss of my previous error and took us along a section of path where the local pet farm puts some of its animals to grass. I was a little concerned when I remembered that there was always a Highland bull in the field ahead and knew that Liz has a morbid fear of bulls but this guy was as docile as a teddy and as we passed I tweaked his horn surprised by its warmth leaving Liz to make friends with her camera.

The run came to an end too early for me as I really felt I wanted to do more but pleased that everyone went away happy

Monkey Catch Up

On Monday 27th April 2015 was the day I went to the doctor for a check up and the discussion went over to my general fitness and he expressed concern when I told him I had run a marathon the week before without any proper training. He was aware of my long distance running as we had bumped shoulders on the running track a few months before.

It was a few hours afterwards that realised that it was true that I was most happy when I was fit and out on the local trails so it became a red letter day, the day I started running and get training for a big event towards the end of the year. Now fully recovered from my marathon in Hanover the week before I planned my week ahead and in doing so I have run 70 km in 5 runs, the longest was 34 km running at night along the Thames Path, from Henley on Thames to Streatley as a sweeper at the Thames Path 100 mile race.

My fitness is not where it used to be but I know it is there and if I continue this way I hope to be upping the training and get some more long distance runs in. 

My last run of 13 km from my house to the Cutty Sark in Greenwich was a tough run for me especially with the Thames run still in my legs from the weekend but I did it, it wasn't pretty but I got there. Things are going to be tough over the next two months as I have to work 46 hours a week as well as keeping my training up.

One good thing from all this is my weight is dropping off me  and beginning to feel a little happier in myself possibly down to medication but it is a nice place to be for a change.